Knowledge Problem

?And Then Came Something Listeners Hadn?t Heard Before?

Michael Giberson

So I was driving home last night, worming my way through traffic and punching buttons on the radio trying to find something to listen to. One of the buttons produced some brand of Latin pop, which surprised me since I hadn?t programmed any such station into the radio. But I just cursed at the driver ahead of me, punched another button and drove on.

Later, in the car on an errand, I explored the radio buttons with more care. Aha! The button for WHFS, 99.1 on the radio dial (for those of you that still have dials on your radios): instead of Green Day or Gwen Stefani, more merengue.

WTF?

Alas, the story on the front page of this morning?s Washington Post:

At noon yesterday, the station behind the HFStival, a popular annual concert, broadcast the late Jeff Buckley’s 1995 hit, “Last Goodbye.” And then came something that WHFS listeners hadn’t heard before in the station’s 36-year history as the arbiter of cutting-edge rock:

“WHFS transmitiendo desde la ciudad capital de America:

“Esta! Es! Tu! Nueva! Radio!”

Not that there is anything wrong with that, but in the Latin American music department I prefer Flaco Jimenez to Enrique Iglesias, so I’ll probably reprogram the button.

Please, WRNR, boost your signal! Northern Virginia needs more music!